Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man with mental disability in East Jerusalem on Saturday morning, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
According to Israeli reports, Israeli officers opened fire on a man who was carrying “a suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and ran away when ordered to stop.
El padre de Iyad Khairi Hallak pic.twitter.com/I3HRjoSlKf
— Cristina Sánchez (@paisesconflicto) May 30, 2020
Later Israeli reports confirmed that the man, who was shot dead during the chase, was actually unarmed.
The victim was identified as Iyad Khairi Hallak, 32, from Wad el-Joz neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. Hallak, who was attending an institution for people with special needs in the same area where he was killed, was left on the ground bleeding until he died.
Palestinians Saturday slammed Israeli police for killing mentally disabled Palestinian in Jerusalem, describing killing of unarmed man as "cold-blooded" https://t.co/Lkmp31Lvxc pic.twitter.com/ZfDuOi33tY
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) May 30, 2020
Police closed all gates leading into Jerusalem’s old city following the incident and banned entry or exit from it. They also raided the Hallak home in Wad el-Joz, according to Palestinian sources.
(Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)
So, what was this ” … suspicious object that looked like a pistol”? Was Iyad Khairi Hallak actually carrying anything at all that allegedly looked like a pistol? Was it just an excuse to murder a Palestinian?